


The Point of No Return

by kachera



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-31
Updated: 2011-03-31
Packaged: 2017-10-17 10:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kachera/pseuds/kachera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alaric comes to terms with his new life in Mystic Falls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Point of No Return

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to LiveJournal. Moved here for safe keeping.

**Story Title** : The Point of No Return (originally written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/tvd_fic/profile)[**tvd_fic**](http://community.livejournal.com/tvd_fic/) challenge #1)  
 **Fandom** : The Vampire Diaries  
 **Characters** : Alaric  
 **Rating** : PG-13 for violence against a vampire  
 **Word count** : ~450  


 **Warnings** : Spoiler for ep 10 "The Turning Point"

He'd told Logan he wasn't a violent man by design just before the vampire had attacked.

Alaric let the stake he'd hidden in his sleeve slip down into his hand and when Logan lunged, face twisted and fangs bared, he brought the stake up and shoved it into place just like he'd practiced. The difference was that this time it was real. This time the wood ripped through fabric and muscle, and the man, _vampire_ , he'd been talking to just a moment before gasped, withered and slipped to the ground. Time froze and all Alaric could hear in that moment was a static, silent void. Into the empty space a single thought surfaced; he had just faced down death and won. He hadn't expected to be so surprised by the outcome. With his heart still hammering and his whole body shaking with the left over urge to fight or flee, he wondered just who he was becoming.

He turned away as the reality sank in, and time resumed its usual pace.

He had started this whole operation with a crystal clear goal - find and destroy the monster that had killed his wife. The last two years he'd poured all his energy and focus into researching and training for the moment when he would either take his revenge or die trying. He'd known right from the start that it was probably a suicide mission, and, while he didn't have a death wish, he couldn't let it go, couldn't move on without finding out the truth. He'd lied to his friends and family about what he was doing knowing they wouldn't believe him, wouldn't understand. Hell, they'd probably try to lock him up in the crazy house. He'd quit a job he'd enjoyed and sold the house he'd planned to grow old in. He told himself those were inconsequential costs to pay, that in the end this was something he had to do, and that if he survived he could start over again with a clean slate and a clear conscience. Now, with a body on the ground and the blood still on his hands, he knew he'd been wrong about that last part. The horror and the violence was real now. This wasn't just a theory in some book anymore, or a confusing memory that had been blurred by time and fear and disbelief. There would be no going back to the life he'd lived before - not now that he knew what was really out there. Not with the knowledge of who he was becoming.

No, Alaric wasn't a violent man by design, but he'd been practicing. It seemed a violent man was precisely who he was going to be.  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank yous to alittleblue, and luredin who agreed to beta for me. Things are always better with betas (hugs them).


End file.
